Something rotten at Swakop

BEAUTY comes at a smelly price as residents of Swakopmund have recently experienced.

Patches of bright colour have sprung up in the town’s oasis-like public gardens as a variety of vygies (mesembryanthemum) put on their annual display of flowers. The gardens, often regarded with surprise by visitors who expected a true desert town, are maintained by the municipality with semi-purified water.Residents have grown used to the slight whiff of the “sewage water” when the sprinklers in the gardens are turned on.But for the past two weeks, their sense of smell has been challenged with something much stronger.”You can hardly breathe when walking past these gardens,” said an exasperated resident.”How do they expect us to live with the smell?” Town Engineer Frikkie Holtzhausen offered some consolation, saying it was a temporary problem that had been sorted out.He said a control mechanism in the primary sedimentation tank at the sewage works was malfunctioning.”The mechanism is under water and we did not notice it immediately.”This affected the quality of water and dirtier water was pumped into the system.”It will take some time to flush the system out, but it has been fixed,” said Holtzhausen.The Town Council monthly meeting last week encouraged residents to report nasty smells to the Town Engineer.A report was submitted that work on the sewage plant had succeeded in reducing the smell significantly.The gardens, often regarded with surprise by visitors who expected a true desert town, are maintained by the municipality with semi-purified water.Residents have grown used to the slight whiff of the “sewage water” when the sprinklers in the gardens are turned on.But for the past two weeks, their sense of smell has been challenged with something much stronger.”You can hardly breathe when walking past these gardens,” said an exasperated resident.”How do they expect us to live with the smell?” Town Engineer Frikkie Holtzhausen offered some consolation, saying it was a temporary problem that had been sorted out.He said a control mechanism in the primary sedimentation tank at the sewage works was malfunctioning.”The mechanism is under water and we did not notice it immediately.”This affected the quality of water and dirtier water was pumped into the system.”It will take some time to flush the system out, but it has been fixed,” said Holtzhausen.The Town Council monthly meeting last week encouraged residents to report nasty smells to the Town Engineer.A report was submitted that work on the sewage plant had succeeded in reducing the smell significantly.